Theater Review: Nunsense at Otterbein

Wednesday

Jul 27, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 28, 2011 at 7:01 PM

Double entendres, puns and nuns saying naughty things. That sums up "Nunsense," the irreverent musical by playwright and composer Dan Goggin that has spawned more than a half dozen sequels during the past 25 years.

Double entendres, puns and nuns saying naughty things. That sums up "Nunsense," the irreverent musical by playwright and composer Dan Goggin that has spawned more than a half dozen sequels during the past 25 years.

Otterbein Summer Theatre applies its prodigious talents to the original, creaky cultural references. Fortunately, Otterbein's five-member cast is blessed with good comic timing, great voices and a can-do spirit worthy of the Little Sisters of Hoboken.

Lauren Friednash as the mother superior Sister Mary Regina and Emma Brock as her second in command, Sister Mary Hubert, play well against each other in their not-too-subtle rivalry. Friednash does her best to maintain dignity during the extended silliness of the mother superior's discovery of a euphoria-inducing inhalant.

Sister Mary Leo aspires to be the first nun ballerina. Molly Wetzel gives the novice dancer the right amount of enthusiasm and naivete.

Joyah Spangler gives an air of wide-eyed confusion to Sister Mary Amnesia, who lost her memory when hit by a falling crucifix. In Act One, she brings out her puppet, Sister Mary Annette, to help her promote the cloistered life in the song "So You Want to be a Nun." In Act Two, she proves her country chops in "I Could've Gone to Nashville."

Best of all, though, was Shayna Zalcberg, portraying the streetwise Sister Robert Anne. Between that Brooklyn accent and that powerhouse voice, she's a budding Barbra Streisand. Chances you'll forget her? Nun.